Perhaps the most stunning aspect of this behavior is that it's not just a few isolated incidents. Humpback whale rescue teams have been witnessed foiling killer whale hunts from Antarctica to the North Pacific. It's as if humpback whales everywhere are saying to killer whales: pick on someone your own size! It seems to be a global effort; an inherent feature of humpback whale behavior.
Nature is incredible. Go Humpbacks.
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I though the question here was going to be something along the lines of "so we are considering getting a new pet and we have decided to get a fish or possibly a mammal"
free willy was an orca and looked how that worked out - although the crew of the enterprise needed to travel back in time and get themselves a pair of humpback's
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Transient Orcas will hunt younger whales. They drag them down to the bottom and pin them until they suffocate and then only eat their cheeks and tongue. Sometimes they just kill them to train the younger Orcas.
I think the most likely explanation is that because Humpbacks need to have the ability to foil orca attacks for their own survival, and responding to Orca hunt behavior even when they aren't the subject of the attack is essentially practice for when they are the targets. It increases their abilities to anticipate and react to orca hunting behavior.
At least personally, I think that's far more likely than the Humpbacks behaving altruistically.
We were out whale watching once off of Sidney, BC and had to turn around because a bunch of the transient Orcas showed up and were chucking seals with their tales. Apparently if one hit the zodiac it could sink it, so we didn't get to see nature takes it's course.
They're not that annoying. they don't ruin picnics and bbq's. I see them more like the preppy jocks of the ocean. Driving around in the fancy cars their parents bought them, bullying all the other smaller sea animals. People come and watch them in their boats thinking they're so cool and beautiful which only feeds the orca ego.
Last edited by Jackpot_Smooth; 08-05-2016 at 07:28 AM.
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So if orcas are just big jerks anyways it is only fair we are jerks to them and force them to do tricks for our entertainment. It just sets the tone that we won't put up with their bully life style in the wild.
Last edited by fundmark19; 08-05-2016 at 08:54 AM.